When Marydiah Milu, 45, flew to India with her daughter Anne Kamonze ,11, in March, they did not expect to be caught up in a new wave of coronavirus.
Milu had been in India for her daughter’s specialized surgery at the Madurai Institute of Orthopaedics and Traumatology. The surgery went well.
The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) approved Ksh500,000 for the treatment and they were scheduled to return on April 15.
However, the bill has risen to Ksh850,000 with the lockdown that came fast and furious in Mumbai.
Her bill adds Ksh10,000 daily and the hospital no longer provides them with food.
“We are glad the surgery was successful. I had already booked return tickets for April 16 because we were to be here until April 15.
The surge in Covid-19 cases disrupted our plans. With the lockdown here, and the ever-rising cases in Mumbai, nothing is moving,” she told Nairobi News.
“The most frustrating thing is that the hospital is charging us per day. We don’t know what will happen if this goes on much longer. They have made it clear that they want their money. We have been instructed not to leave our cubical in the ward because of the bill and Covid-19 cases,” she added.
Young Kamonze started suffering from heart complications three years ago.
“My daughter has been having heart complications since 2017. When she fell ill, I suspected malaria and bought her medication, but there was no improvement. In 2018, we took her to Kijabe Mission Hospital for an examination.”
India is currently battling a dangerous spike in the number of daily infections in hundreds of thousands and thousands of deaths daily.
Her plight comes to the fore as the Kenyan Embassy in New Delhi asked all Kenyans in India to provide their details with the Kenyan mission.